Abstract

We report here a systematic study of the antibacterial behavior of silver nanoparticles coated with fatty acids (oleic: AgNP-O, linoleic: AgNP-L, and palmitic acids: AgNP-P) in water. We have found remarkable differences in their capability to penetrate bacteria cell over a broader range of particle size of ~4–96 nm compared to previously reported work, and a variable toxicity depending on the particles size. Our results indicate that silver nanoparticles stabilized with oleic acid showed clear advantages in antibacterial activity, penetration inside the bacteria cells, cytotoxicity, time effectiveness, efficiency, and stability against light.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by FONDECYT (Grants Nos. 1100537, and 11080133), and PIA (ACT 95). M.A. Páez and M. I. Azócar are also grateful to CONICYT (Grant 79090024). The authors also wish to thank the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for support of the LATEST2 Programme Grant, with the characterization facilities being used in this study. We thank Dr. Carolina Perez for helpful discussion and their kind assistance.